Gretzinger, who was Kingston's school chief from August 2004 through January 2012, will fill a principal vacancy in the Albany city school district from Thursday through the rest of the current school year, according to Ron Lesko, the Albany district's communications director.

Gretzinger will serve as interim principal at the Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology through June 30 at a pay rate of $525 per day, Lesko said.

The academy, which is called "TOAST" for short, serves prekindergarten through fifth grade and is one of three magnet schools in the district.

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Lesko said the district does not need to get a waiver from the state for Gretzinger to earn more than the $30,000 limit for former public employees to still draw a full pension from state retirement systems because Gretzinger is at least 65 years old.

When Gretzinger left the Kingston school district, his salary was $202,878, and according to the Daily Freeman's calculation, he draws a maximum annual pension of $98,420.

Leading up to Gretzinger's last day on the job, the former superintendent was remembered by past and present school officials for bringing stability to the district at a time when there had been frequent turnover among school chiefs.

Other achievements from Gretzinger's tenure included bringing the Montessori method to George Washington Elementary School, overseeing the transformation of the long-vacant Carnegie library into the Carnegie Learning Center, and ending the longtime policy allowing students to leave the high school's campus for lunch, which school officials have credited for drastically cutting the school's ninth-grade retention rates.

The controversial former superintendent was also remembered for matters like being drawn into a double-dipping scandal involving a retired police officer who oversaw Kingston High School security, stubbornly low minority graduation rates on his watch, and leading the district when a controversial plan to acquire the former Chambers farm in the town of Ulster as a site for a new Kingston High School was developed and then abandoned amid public opposition.

In Gretzinger's 42-year education career, he also worked for school districts in New Paltz, Valatie, Chatham and West Nyack, as well as by John A. Coleman Catholic High School in the town of Ulster, and his experience as a building-level administrator included a stint as principal of Clarkstown Middle School in Rockland County.